Perry gets another chance at GOP debate Saturday night

Rick Perry greets a youngster at a Veterans Day parade in Columbia, S.C., on Friday. (AP Photo/Andy Dunaway)

By RICHARD S. DUNHAM, Washington bureau

WASHINGTON — Rick Perry will be back on the debate stage Saturday in South Carolina, seeking to revive his flailing campaign with a strong performance at a presidential candidate forum on foreign policy.

For Perry’s campaign, his appearance in Spartanburg, S.C., is crucial for rebounding quickly from the embarrassing 53-second lapse during Wednesday’s debate when the 61-year-old presidential candidate couldn’t remember the name of one of three federal Cabinet departments he promises to abolish.

Saturday’s debate at Wofford College offers Perry a second nationally televised opportunity to atone for his earlier “oops” flub and yet another chance to display presidential gravitas.

But Perry’s comeback bid is complicated by the fact that the two-hour forum will focus on international issues, an area where the governor has little experience beyond 11 years of dealing with Mexican trade and border issues.

With no margin for error, Perry is hoping to counter complaints that he is a policy lightweight by launching a withering attack onPresident Barack Obama’s approach to global matters, particularly the president’s handling of the Israeli-Palestinian situation and the repressive Iranian regime.

“The only way to fix his problems is to have one stellar debate and do better than people expect on a subject people don’t expect you to know about,” said Susan MacManus, a political scientist at the University of South Florida.

Mexico stance

For Perry, that subject could be foreign policy. Perry rarely speaks about international issues on the campaign trail, spending the vast majority of time talking about his record of job creation in Texas and his vision for a smaller federal government.

But he has stood out from the GOP pack by supporting U.S. military action inside of Mexico under certain circumstances, and he has been harshly critical of the efforts of Obama and former President George W. Bush to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. Indeed, Perry’s skepticism about the continuing U.S. mission in Afghanistan, his tough line against Chinese trade practices and his confrontational approach to Iran are much different than the policies pursued by Bush, his predecessor as Texas governor.

“Rick Perry’s foreign policy views really do not lend themselves to easy categorization and appear quite different from those of President Bush,” said Michael Greig, a University of North Texas political science professor specializing in international conflict and security. “Perry focuses on things that hit closer to home than Bush did.”

For a Texan, no foreign policy issue is closer to home than Mexico. As governor, Perry has had relatively friendly trade relations. His plan to help the children of illegal immigrants win in-state college tuition in Texas, though, has been denounced by Romney as a “magnet” for lawbreakers.

“Anybody who is governor of Texas cares about trade with Mexico, regardless of what they think of Mexicans,” said Carlos Heredia, head of the international studies department at CIDE, a Mexico City think tank. “He cares and knows much more than anyone from Massachusetts or other northern states.”

While Mexican officials have denounced his suggestion that U.S. troops could be used to fight criminal gangs with Mexico’s permission and Arturo Sarukhan, the country’s ambassador in Washington, quickly dismissed it as “not on the table,” Perry’s view may be popular among grass-roots Mexicans.

“If you listen to radio programs in northern Mexico, his pledge of sending troops to Mexico echoed with people,” said Heredia. “People are so desperate and fed up with the violence that even with no grounds to be certain that things would improve, they would give it a try.”

Chance for recovery

Perry’s standing in the Republican presidential race has fallen dramatically in the past two months as the result of a series of self-inflicted wounds and critically panned debate performances. He said during his round of interviews Thursday that he has not committed to attend any debates after Saturday night’s event.

But UT professor Polinard said the South Carolina debate could afford Perry a rebound opportunity.

“Perry has gone from being a regional joke to a national joke and now a global joke,” said Democratic strategist Paul Begala. “Can you imagine Barack Obama debating Governor Perry? Even in a bad economy, the president would carry 35 states.”

Dudley Althaus in Mexico City and Kyle Glazier in Washington contributed to this report.